Copan Ruinas

August 13

Today we went to the Macaw Mountain Bird Park. It was a 21/2 kilometer walk from town. We had a guide bring us through. The first stop was the parakeets, then scarlet macaws. There was a cage for scarlet macaws that you could walk through. There were also toucans, green macaws, aracaris, owls, hawks, and Motmots. The aracaris had to be separated or they would kill each other. There was one spot where you could hold birds. I got to hold them. Some of the birds bit holes in Bjorn and Dad’s shirts. One of the birds grabbed on to a string around my neck holding the room key.

-Emma

August 14
Wow. Today was really fun. This was just as cool as the Mayan ruins. We went to the museum. First you walk through a long tunnel that represents a number of things, like the Mayan underworld or the scientist’s tunnels. At the end you see a light and hear birds chirping. As you walk out of the tunnel you see an enormous building, and as you walk farther out you slowly watch as the the view of the temple gets bigger and bigger. The entire building was an enormous open air room centered around a reproduction of a Mayan pyramid. Around the sides lie many other artifacts, most of them original. The hieroglyphics and detail on most of them are amazing. There are large pillars that are carved with rulers and Mayan symbols, and a bunch of smaller statues. There is also a second level which has more walls that are decorated with different statues. They were stunningly detailed and the whole museum was very well done. We spent a long time there. I really want to go back there. We also went on a hike on a nature trail and saw a mayan practice ball court. We almost took the wrong trail and almost got lost.

-Bjorn

August 15
We went to the butterfly garden today. I got lots of pictures of them. It was a nice butterfly garden. In the beginning she showed us the larvae and eggs. I saw one larva that disguised itself as bird poop. One cocoon was golden and one larva was really big and fat. It was the giant owl. The eggs were really tiny. They looked like a speck. Then we went into the garden. We saw a butterfly laying eggs. One big fat furry butterfly kept on landing on Dad and landed once on Bjorn. One night owl landed on me, but that was pretty much all. It was really fun.

-Emma

August 16
And so our time in Central America is almost over. We started today with the typical mix of mystery and funny occurrences mostly due to our incomplete understanding of Spanish and the local customs. We got up early to catch the 7am bus to San Pedro Sula.
We staggered down the precarious cobblestone streets with our luggage and our obligatory two bags of food. Three blocks in we decided to take one of the ridiculously tiny tuk tuks to the station. the kids and I piled in. Mitch had to walk and was going to stop and get cash. As we careened away clutching the bags so they wouldn’t spill into the street I realized I had no lempiras. We made it to the bus station with limbs and luggage intact and there in my wallet I discovered a lonely five dollar bill.
Turns out the departure time is flexible as they wait until they have enough people before leaving. Meanwhile, there was a bit of maneuvering as they tried to find room for everyone’s luggage. One man had to be persuaded to stow his machete in the hold and after the arrival of a flock of backpackers on a tour there was no room for a large bag of rope. Mitch was delighted to find seats by the emergency door as there was extra space for his legs until the ticket taker came along and opened the emergency door in order to stow the large ball of rope at our feet.
Soon we were underway only to stop every so often taking on still more passengers until the aisle was full. A larger woman decided to sit on the large ball of rope, squishing it and making even less room for our feet. Nothing to do but laugh and have Bjorn switch places with Mitch.
We’re here now in this large and busy city repacking our bags for The transatlantic flight to England tomorrow. It will be a change for us of both climate and culture. I’ll miss Honduras and Nicaragua. So much has happened here that we haven’t had time to write about. We appreciate so much all the comments and emails from our friends and family who are reading our blog. it is great to hear your encouraging words and to know you are following along as we travel.
-Margit